In this post we will try to explore the concept of “Online
Reputation Management”. The purpose is to introduce you to this concept and
give you a quick overview.
Online Reputation Management (ORM) as the name suggests, is
the art of monitoring information flow on the internet of a person, brand or
business with the purpose of decreasing the visibility of negative content and
promoting positive or neutral content. In today’s era, anyone with a device
connected to internet can post information, reviews and comments about you or
your brand on dozens of highly visited online destinations. Businesses can no
longer afford to create a website and assume that prospects will learn about
the company solely from there. Your
customers are online and not just looking at your Website and Facebook page for
information about your company. What took you years to develop in local
reputation can be brought down in a day with negative commentary. Therefore, it
pays to protect your brand where ever consumers are offered a degree of
interaction. It is imperative that businesses actively participate in ORM
especially when the battlefield has shifted online. ORM is not only about
responding to the negative; it’s equally important to amplify the positive.
Some of the ways to get started on a reputation management
program are:
What’s Buzzing?
Before you turn negativities into a positive spin you need
to find out what’s being said about you, your company, its products and
services. Google lets you set up custom searches on Google News for any phrase.
When you subscribe to this search through RSS or e-mail, you receive an alert
anytime this search phrase shows up in the news feed. To monitor closely what’s
being said online in real time use Twitter’s search.twitter.com feature
Participate in social media
One of the best ways to fight negative comments is to make
sure that there is lots of positive content showing up for searches of your
name or company. Having a frequently updated blog, well written Facebook and
LinkedIn profiles, submitting articles to article directories can help you
ensure that there is substantial positive content attributed to your name
Employ social search engines
Claim and enhance your business listings on search engines
such as Yelp, InsiderPages, CitySearch and JudysBook. These sites enhance your
business listings and allow users to rate your services and write testimonials
Build your reputation
Off late, a number of sites such as Naymz.com and
RepVine.com have been launched with the purpose of allowing you to build an
online reputation by inviting people to write reviews about you and your work.
LinkedIn also allows and encourages this practice
Encourage Brand Evangelism
People tend to complain more often that congratulate,
however that doesn’t mean they don’t like sharing experiences. They just need a
little encouragement. Create brand evangelists by giving them incentives to
spread good news about your brand
A good
example of ORM could be the campaign done by Chevy for Tahoe. In March 2006,
Chevrolet ran a social media promotion where consumers could create their own
ads for the new Tahoe. Anti-SUV activists took up the call, creating ads that
portrayed the Tahoe as a gas-guzzling monstrosity that caused global warming
and destroyed the environment. These negative ads became popular and quickly
began making the rounds on YouTube. Instead of pulling these ads , Chevy openly
acknowledged them on the company’s blog, dealing with the issues brought up in
the ads and highlighting the new Tahoe’s good qualities, such as the fact that
it gets 22 miles per gallon, can run on ethanol and has a high safety rating.
By keeping the dialog open and addressing these legitimate concerns people had
with their product, Chevy was able to turn a potential negative into a positive.
ORM means addressing your consumer’s concerns and showing them how your company
is striving to make things better.
-Rahul Mukherjee
MDI, 2011-13
